Call Of Duty 6 - Enough Already!
July 11th 2008 01:21
Speculation is bound to be running rampant arount the E3 time of the year, but in our quest for the latest news, have we all gone too far? Currently, articles can be found regarding Gears Of War 4, Call Of Duty 6, Metal Gear Solid 5, and a raft of other titles that have not been announced as being in development, much less with any sort of information at all available. With 176 odd games hitting us before christmas there are more than enough games to occupy the minds and controller hands of gamers. Do we need to spend so much time and energy on distant releases?
Is this focus on the future actually detrimental to gaming, or does it help? The rampant speculation certainly hypes a title for the publisher, giving them a guage on the interest level that exists. Features that gamers expect to appear in a new title can be debated, giving developers an idea on what will make their game appealing to their fanbase.
Where this is dangerous though is that the forums and social gaming news sites that provide the platform for these discussions are the voice of a vocal minority. Perhaps the reason why the number of households who own gaming units has only increased by a low single digit over the past few years is due to the direction of gaming being determined by a hard core group of enthusiasts that have been actively involved since the dawn of home gaming, representing the wants and needs of gamers as they see them. These websites and forums are being taken seriously, with each console having its own community managers, using the internet as their medium to gauge public opinion.
Gaming media has begun to grow with the gaming industry. Blogs are becoming news sources in an industry that is arguably bigger than Hollywood. Rumour becomes as good as fact, speculation becomes headline news. In the quest to win the gaming audience writers are reaching further out to get the next exclusive or confirmed rumour.
There is no regulation in the gaming media, but as the audience slowly grows the sites that do the best will be those that are rational and appeal to a wide audience. These sites will discuss fact, their hopes as opinion rather than news, be inclusive and foster gamers from all walks of life, and most importantly, not flood their pages with news of games from three years in the future.
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